LIFE

US, 1999, 108 minutes, Colour.
Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Nick Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Clarence Williams.
Directed by Ted Demme.

Life is a prison film, spanning 65 years. Eddie Murphy portrays a young conman in Harlem in 1932. Martin Lawrence portrays an edgy young man who wants to become a bank clerk. They are threatened because they cannot pay their bills in a Harlem nightclub, get the chance to redeem their lives by going to Mississippi to pick up some bootleg whiskey. However, they lose their money, are framed for killing a local card sharp and imprisoned for life.

The film highlights 1932, makes a transition to 1944 and then (with collages to indicate the passing of the decades) comes to 1972. There is a climax with the two 90-year-olds finally escaping from prison. There are echoes of such films as The Shawshank Redemption and, especially, Cool Hand Luke.

The film was criticised as not being serious enough for a drama, comic enough for a comedy. However, the two actors with their comic touch do a whole lot of routines familiar from previous films and entertaining for black audiences. The film seems to be geared more for black American audiences who would enjoy the characterisation, the repartee, the interchanges. Non-American? reviewers found these routines rather tiresome. It seems a matter of sensibilities.

Eddie Murphy does this kind of routine without any difficulty at all. Martin Lawrence has appeared in such action films as Bad Boys, Nothing to Lose as well as more comic films. The film was directed by Ted Demi, director of such films as The Ref and Beautiful Girls.

1.Title of the film, the meaning of life, the life sentence, losing one's life and gaining it?

2.The tradition of American prison films, the South, Mississippi, the conditions, the punishments, the chain gangs, escapes? This film's variations on the tradition?

3.The atmosphere of New York and Harlem in the '30s, the nightclubs? The contrast with the South, the clubs, Mississippi, the courts and prison? Escapes? The contrast with 1972 and the changes in civil rights, appearances, clothes, technology ...? The contrast with the 1990s? The musical score, the songs?

4.Time passing, the ageing and changes in the two central characters? The collages, especially of the '40s to the '60s?

5.The film as the equivalent of a shaggy dog story, the narration by the old man at the graveside and the two gravediggers listening? The audience being misled - the tone of the film, the comic touches, the serious touches? How well did they blend?

6.The Harlem nightclubs, the singers, the owners, the money? Claude and his girlfriend, not being engaged? The threats to his non-payments, the prospect of the job? Ray, conman, stealing Claude's wallet, no money? Spanky and his confronting them? Claude being dumped, saved by Ray's patter? Spanky's mission for the two?

7.Driving to Mississippi, stopping at the diner and the dramatisation of prejudice, the rednecks in the diner? Picking up the whiskey, going to the club, Ray and his being cheated? Claude and the sexual advances, losing his money? Their pursuing the conman, finding him dead? The group, Pike's arrival, the arrest? The audience knowing that Pike had confronted the conman, wanted to run him out of town, the scar on his face? The cover-up? The two protesting their innocence, going to jail? The life sentence?

8.Ray and Claude and their differing personalities, the initial clashes, the blame, Ray saving Claude's life, Claude's resentment (and not including him in the appeals)? The discussion about 'we'? The underlying friendship despite the clash, 28 years of not talking to each other? The memories of the past, Ray not taking the gun from Dillard to shoot Claude, their both standing on the bottles, the reconciliation? The end and their bickering, their escape? A portrait of US cons?

9.Dillard and his speech, the boundaries, the gun line, his trustees, Bob and his doing whatever Dillard said? The harshness of the prison, the bosses? The digging of the ditches, the breaking of the stones? No escapes?

10.Claude and Ray as being innocent, the effect on them? The first night, encountering all the prisoners? At work, Claude tired? Ray and his confrontation with the big man about the corn bread, the fight? The change of attitudes and the prisoners becoming friends? Their isolation, the long time together? The nature of their friendship? Telling stories - Ray and his Boom Boom Club, fuelling their dreams? The visualising of the Boom Boom Club and all the prisoners enjoying it, the music, the eating, dining, and Claude as the waiter? The spirit of the jail? Survival? The attempt at the escape with the map, the little girl saying they should go in the hole?

11.The transition to the '40s, the arrival of the mute Can't Get It Right? Claude and his baseball coaching, the matches, Can't Get It Right and his skills? The attraction to the governor's daughter? Her giving birth, the reaction of the governor, the search for the paternity, all the prisoners claiming the paternity? The deal for Can't Get It Right, the white promoter, his discussion about black players in the league, his getting the prisoner out but leaving Claude and Ray?

12.The personalities of the various prisoners, their way of speaking, dominance, eating, fighting? Jokes? The homosexual issue? The young man and his scarf? The irony of his being allowed and his not wanting to go, not wanting to return to his mother - running and getting shot? The '40s and the atmosphere of World War II?

13.The years going by, the two not talking? Survival, the bottles, the relief of making friends again?

14.Their being transferred in 1972, working for the governor, the garden, the house? The irony of Sergeant Dillard still there, the same speech to the newcomers? Ageing? The collage of the prisoners and their disappearing (literally) from the scene? The new governor as pleasant, the brochure and his talking about retirement and his apology for offending Claude? Ray and Claude still clashing, Ray assuming he had an escape plan? Claude and his driving the governor, seeing the '70s from the outside, the car, the suit, the people, the changes in civil rights?

15.The arrival of Pike, his boorish redneck attitudes, the scar on his face? The hunt, flushing out the birds? The irony of his watch and Ray realising it was his father's, taken from the conman? Pike wanting to shoot Ray after ridiculing him and saying that the state had forty years of labour from each of them? The governor shooting him dead? The cover-up, explaining to the authorities, promising the pardon - and the irony of his dying?

16.The two in the old folk's home, the atmosphere of the '90s, playing cards, talking, reminiscing, the television? Claude's plan, the fire, Ray rushing back in? The explanation of the bodies from the morgue, their being buried? The irony of their going to New York, Yankee Stadium, watching the match? The end of their life?

17.The history of prison movies, familiarity to audiences, the reality of the prisons, the justice system, the oppression? Change? Paralleling the changes for African Americans and civil rights? A satisfactory blend of the serious and the comic?